I am strating a African Cicihlids tank and need some tips please?

Question

Tank will be 30gallon

Answer 1

30 gallons is a touch on the small size for many Africans, they can become whoppers (2' +), so be careful about what you buy. Go for the smaller sizes like Julidochromis, Auratus, Lapidochromis, Lamprologus etc. If you haven't already, get a good book on Africans. Look for something by Dr. Axelrod. I don't always agree with his methods, but the man spent 30 years in the field collecting Africans, he does know his stuff there. One thing I learned about Africans over the years is use rocks, rock, rocks. They love little hidey-holes. Africans are territorial, so rocks help break the tank up into territories that can be defended, as well as providing refuges to those that are being battered by their tankmates. Expect some losses in that regard. Africans are cichlids and as such there will always be an alpha male that won't likely put up with any secondary males in his territory. Someone is likely to get killed eventually. One thing I did that worked very successfully for me was I managed to get a bunch of old marble window ledges and some big hunks of flat slate from some old vertibule tiling. I created little terraces by breaking the marble into 6-8" chunks, laying it upright on its side in the tank, then laying the slate flat on top of that. Once I had a layer going across the back of the of little pigeon holes about 2-3" wide, I started a second layer by putting 4-6" chunks of marble on top of the first layer of slate. I topped that with more slate and a 3rd and final layer. This was in a 55g breeder tank and it created a virtual African Cichlid apartment complex. ;-) Eventually I had some Julidochromis Regani take this tank over and they became a breeding colony that lasted well over 10 year. There were up to 6 or 7 generations (I lost track) living in these rocks and Big Daddy Julie was about 8" long and ran the place with an ironfist. Even though I weeded out the babies about twice a year and sold or traded them off to one of the local pet shops, I usually had between 35 and 100 Julies living in this tank. I never had to silicone everything together (it was suggested to me) and I only had a single collapse, and that was my fault while I was trying to clean the tank. Amazingly there were no casualites! One last thing, is don't be a Dutch Housewife when keeping Africans, especially from the Rift Lakes. Most of these fish in the wild feed off crustraceans and smaller fish they find hiding in the algae growing on the rocks they live in. I had no luck with my Julies until I went on a business trip that had me out of town for the better part of 3 months. I didn't get much time for tank maintenance and the algae blossomed all over the tank. Imagine my surprise when I got home and started tearing this tank apart to clean it up and finding not 1 but 2 batches of babies darting in and out of the crevises! I became convinced that having a decent growth of algae for africans to pick at is an essential part of their diet, and many species I had had problems with previously did splendidly once I started keeping them in "weedy" tanks.

Answer 2

Research the type of african cichlids you are planning to get (there are many types, and not all are suited to a 30gal due to the size they will attain or the aggressive and territorial tendencies they exhibit (typically a smaller tank will increase the intensity of aggression).

You'll likely want to select shell dwellers or the least aggressive malawi species. Most other african cichlids do best in 55gal or larger tanks.

Most african cichlids thrive in hard, high-pH water conditions (pH 8.0-8.4) and are suited to rocky set ups (which provide hiding spots and territories).

Answer 3

Here's a site about African Cichlids with articles and real-time chat with other enthusiasts. You should be able to get some tips there.

Answer 4

buy them all at once from a pet store, usually if they have been together before they get along fairly well. introducing new one's to ones you already have, they usuallly fight and chew each others fins off.

Answer 5

i know that they dig holes, so i would make sure that you have at least 6" of gravel in the bottom of your tank. good luck, hope you get ur info!!